That’s when “transformational” and “transform” seemed to be on the lips of everyone involved in the hiring of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system Chancellor Steven Rosenstone and University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, as well as those caught up in the latest round of budget cuts.

(If my ears don’t deceive me, one member of the state Senate higher education committee, after hearing the term bandied about during a meeting earlier this year, quipped that he was still trying to figure out what exactly the term meant.)

I think Elden was writing about transformation as it applies to the rhetoric used in K-12 education reform, but I think it applies to higher education as well.

Here’s how she lists her pet peeve:

“We need transformational change!”

Bashing the status quo is so 2010. This year, the issue is transformational, disruptive change (cue applause) vs. incremental change (eeewwww). In 2011, reformers delivering gleeful knockout punches to anyone who disagrees with them have drowned out their more reasonable colleagues. This leaves teachers uneasy. After all, history (and the history of education, according to Rick’s most recent book) is filled with examples showing that good ideas, taken to extremes, become bad ideas, and that change can bring unintended consequences. Teachers have a huge interest in curing education’s ills, but we can only be open to reformers’ prescriptions if we know reformers are willing to address the side effects.

How was it used here?

Former U President Robert Bruininks used the expression in his State of the University speech in March, and used “transform” to describe Rosenstone’s achievements at the U. Rosenstone used “transformation” here during his MnSCU interview and here during an MPR interview, and the word was used during interviews with his rival, William Sederberg, here. The Star-Tribune echoed the sentiment of MnSCU trustees’ desire for transformation here.

Those are just a few examples. (Reporters hear buzzwords much more often than their articles let on. After a while, we tend to tune them out. But it’s tough to forget something pounded into your head day after day.)

Does it really matter? Probably not. I’m sort of chuckling as I write this.

Why would we need to transform the University to be one of the best in the nation? So we’ve only been receiving so-so education up to now? I’d like my money back since I was told I was receiving an education from one of the top schools in the nation.

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.